Leaderless
by One Nutty Tree
Summary: Can the kids still win sectionals without their teacher? Set in season 1 of Glee. I wrote this a while back but have only recently got round to typing it up. Probably won't finish this story.
1. Chapter 1

The members of Glee club were chatting excitedly about their latest song, especially Rachel. She was the lead alongside Fin. They were doing another duet and she was ecstatic. Rachel felt that singing with Fin was one of the rar time when she could really connect with the cute footballer. The others were excited simply because of the song choice. It seemed like nothing could go wrong.

Sue Sylvester glared at the cheerful teens through the window. She had to put a stop to this. Spotting Will Schuester heading towards the classroom sue made herself scarce. The mark of a good spy is to never be seen. She noted that he didn't even see her head poking round the corridor.

"Hey Mr S." greeted Fin as Will walked through the door.

"Good morning." the teacher croaked.

"Whoa Mr Schu you don't sound too good!" exclaimed Mercedes.

The others around her murmured in agreement.

"He doesn't look too good either." Quinn whispered to Santana.

"Thanks for the concern guys but I'm fine. It's just a small cold." Will rasped unconvincingly.

The Glee kids stared a Mr Schuester dubiously. His nose was red, his eyes were bloodshot and his deathly pale skin only enhanced it.

"Sir are you sure you should be in school?"

"I'm fine." Will repeated with a little more emphasis. "Now practise this song. Show me what you've got." He smiled as Rachel automatically strode towards centre stage as soon as the piano began playing. Fin started to sing and joined her. Together they danced weaving their way through the crowd yelling out the tune at the top of their voices. When the song finally came to an end Will had a painful headache which spoiled the moment slightly. He wanted to sit down more than ever but decided that he should do what was right for the kids. "Brilliant. We don't need to worry about the vocals." Rachel smiled happily and glanced at Fin who also looked pleased. "However the dance routine needs a little work." Will stood in front of the group and glanced back over his shoulder. "Follow my lead." First they practised the steps on their own, then in time to the music. "Okay, now try it without me."

Will stepped back and watched the kids. Their movement was still a little clumsy in places. He opened his mouth ready to nag but then Emma entered. The teens kept dancing.

"Hey. I heard the kids earlier and thought I'd come watch."

"Well the dancing still needs work."

"Will you sound terrible!"

"Oh it's just a little cold."

"How are you?"

"A little stressed what with the baby on the way, my other job and Glee."

"Other job?"

"It's just a way of getting a little more money for when my daughter comes."Will was about to ask how she was but the bad footwork was simply too distracting. He stood in front of the kids and started to show them the moves. "So how are you? I haven't seen you for a few days."

"Oh I've been busy with this course." Emma explained. "It's meant to help me understand the children I'm dealing with."

Will concentrated a little too much on the fellow teacher and tripped over his own feet. The music stopped. He sat on the floor for a few minutes and blinked in an attempt to correct his blurring vision. Will felt a little dazed.

"Mr S?" Fin's voice sounded strangely echoey to the teacher's ears. "Snap out of it." he said helping him up.

Will leant heavily on the piano and realised that all eyes were on him.

"Take 5." He croaked and made his way to the nearest seat. From the window Sue smirked, maybe she wouldn't have to do anything to ground the Glee club this time round.

Emma pulled up a chair and sat beside Will. She'd never seen him like this before.

"Will you need to go home and rest." she told him.

"I know but sectionals are not that far away now – "

"The kids won't die if you take a day off." Emma reassured.

"You're right." He agreed and hung his head in his hands before glancing up at her. "Have you got an aspirin on you by any chance?"

"You'll have to go home for that."

The kids watched the pair of teachers from the other side of the room. They too were discussing Mr Schuester.

"I've never seen him mess up a move like that." said Rachel.

"That was a pretty stupid fail." added Puck who promptly received several scorching glares.

"He'd better shape up. Sectionals are coming. How are we meant to be any good if our teacher is always stumbling?"

Will got to his feet.

"Okay I think that'll be all for today." he announced wincing slightly.

The Glee club members watched him sway and were rather reluctant to leave.

"Mr Schu" said Rachel stepping forward. "I think I speak for all of us when I say are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Will blinked, the scene swam before him.

"No." he responded before collapsing.


	2. Chapter 2

"Will? Can you hear me?"

"Someone should get the school nurse." said Rachel.

"We don't have one remember?" Will muttered as he opened his eyes. "They never got anyone to replace Terri." he added to himself.

There was a jumble of faces looking down on him. The whole group let out a sigh of relief. He didn't remember there being quite so many Glee club members before he blacked out and wondered if he was seeing double. Will sat up from his sprawled position on the floor.

"How do you feel?" asked Emma.

"Dizzy." He responded and lay back down. "I think it's better on the floor."

"Kids stay with Mr Shuester I'm going to get help. That goes for you too Will."

"Don't worry Miss Pilsbury. He's not going anywhere." Rachel said firmly.

Emma got up from her kneeling position beside Will and left the room. There was an awkward silence.

"I think I'm going to try getting up now." he croaked. With considerable help Will was soon sitting on a chair and the Glee club was staring at him nervously. "Well since we're all here you might as well practise. Show me the second song."

"Mr S are you sure – "

"If anything I could do with a little cheering up."

Soon the team was singing along to a tune they all knew. Will smiled. Despite his headache, tiredness and growing urge to throw up he was proud of his kids. This was how Emma found them. By her side was Terri Schuester ready to take her husband home, or at least to the doctor's. It had take several calls but eventually Emma had been able to make Terri listen to her. She stood by the door watching the kids whilst Terri ran over to will.

"Come on honey let's get you home."

"I'm not sure whether I can stand up without –"

"Don't be such a baby it's easy."

She took her husband by the hand and pulled him up just as the song ended. Will gave the Glee kids a thumbs up and tried to hold down his breakfast and stay upright at the same time. Terri walked towards the door and Will staggered after her. Emma watched the pair wistfully and smiled as Will threw up on Sue's trainers.

"Erm…Miss Pilsbury?"

She turned.

"Can we go now?"

"Oh. Yes."

Several days passed. Each day the Glee club hopefully congregated in the room for rehearsals but Mr Schuester was always absent. Emma was walking by and noticed how their musical numbers had lost a little energy due to the amount of it being wasted on arguments. She entered the room which seemed to silence the kids.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing, that's the problem!" Rachel explained through gritted teeth.

"We can't do this without Mr S!"

"Sectionals are in a few days!"

Everyone started to talk at once. Emma sighed, it was clear what they needed – a teacher.

"To do well in sectionals you'll need to work together for a start. As for Mr Schuester, I'll try and talk to him."

The children seemed slightly reassured by this and Emma set off determinedly to her office. After a bit of searching she found Will's number.

"Hello Terri speaking."

"Is Will there?"

"No he's at the hospital. Who is this?"

Emma promptly hung up. This could be a lot more difficult than she'd imagined. On the bright side, hospitals are clean.

Will lay in his white hospital bed trying not to feel too lousy. His cold had got serious but ti was the shock of his life that had landed him here. When they got home he and Terri had started to argue. When his wife stormed off her fake baby bump fell off. Anger had not helped his condition in the slightest and now he was left ill and depressed. After his second collapse of the day he'd woken up like this. He didn't even know if he'd be better in time to see the kids perform.

Emma entered the room.

"Hi." He greeted.

"Your voice is sounding better."

"That's about the only part of me."

"Your wife sounded worried on the phone." Emma sat next to the bed. "How long will you be here for?"

"I don't know."

"Terri-"

"I'm not going back to her."

"What?"

Emma felt a flutter of hope, maybe she and Will did stand a chance together after all.

"She's not pregnant. She was just pretending. How are the kids doing?"

Emma gasped. That was a pretty big bombshell to drop.

"They miss you will."

"Are they practising?"

"Of course."

"Just remind them to work together for me. I don't know what I'm going to do if I'm responsible for making them miss sectionals –"

"Will that's not going to happen. If necessary I can take them there and supervise."

"What about your wedding, isn't that cutting it a little short?"

"I've discussed it with Ken and we both agreed it was worth the risk." Emma lied.


End file.
